The Law of the Jungle
by The Masked Mummer
Summary: Years after the Fall of the White Fang, Teams RWBY and JNPR have graduated Beacon and become Hunters. New threats arise, and a new generation will rise to meet them, learn how to face them. But Remnant is a wild land, and does not sway to the whims of humans or faunus. In the wilderness, there is only one law: The Law of the Jungle. (Post-Canon OC Spinoff - Mildly AU)


Prologue: Days Gone By

The restaurant was a small thing, practically a hole in the wall in the commercial district of downtown Vale, but it was a chosen favorite of the group of eight that sat inside. They had pushed together both of its tables to make one that barely seated their entire party, but they didn't really mind. Old friends like they were didn't mind sitting closely, especially when they hadn't been able to meet with each other for so long.

The eight of them consulted menus as they bantered casually. It was a friendly conversation, built on the foundation of many others beforehand. A tall, thin man in a long green coat sighed. "Fine," he groaned defeatedly, running a hand through the magenta streak in his otherwise black hair, "you can have pancakes." Under his breath, he mumbled, "Though I wouldn't know why you'd want any. You already had some an hour ago."

Beside him, a disturbingly chipper orange-haired girl grinned. "Oh, don't be silly Renny! I know this place's pancakes aren't as awesome as your super-ultra-secret recipe, but the syrup is SOOOO good!" She spread her arms out to illustrate her point, apparently trying to give a measurement of the deliciousness of the syrup. She had them out farther than should have been anatomically possible, and in that cramped space that meant that she was practically slapping the menus out of several of the other diners' hands.

A beautiful redhead ducked slightly under the other girl's exaggerated gesture. She smiled at the blond man next to her. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle as she did so. "The usual?" she asked almost rhetorically, and the man smiled back.

"Sure thing, Pyrrha," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "The usual's great. I could stick with the usual every day until the end of the world." He leaned in then, and whispered, "Ah, what's the usual again?"

Across the table from them, another couple sat arguing. A woman in pristine white berated a taller women in black and red. Flipping her off-centered ponytail over her shoulder as she shook her head in frustration, the white girl sighed. "For the love of god, Ruby! You're twenty one years old! No, you cannot just have a plate of cookies. It's not healthy, and you need to eat better to stay in top form." Her blue eyes shot icy daggers into the other woman's silver ones.

"But Weiss!" the taller woman whined in a surprisingly childlike tone, throwing herself onto the other's shoulder. She stared up at the older girl then, a pleading set of puppy dog eyes fully engaged. "Please? Can I have the cookies?"

Weiss closed her eyes, shrugging her shoulders in an obvious fold to the pressure of Ruby's puppy-eyes. "Fine. It's not fair. It's been six years, and you're still as cute as when we met."

The redhead leaned up and kissed her on the cheek. "You know you love it," she whispered in a smoky tone. The otherwise seductive effect was totally overthrown by her rapidly wiggling eyebrows. The pair of them tried to maintain straight faces, and succeeded for about three seconds before both burst into laughter.

At the head of the table sat another pair of women. One was as bright as the sun, a wild fountain of golden hair spilling across her back, her skin practically glowing with life and vitality. Beside her, wrapped in a lazy embrace, a shorter, thinner woman sat looking through the menu, sable hair pulled back behind her ears. Her human ones, that was. A pair of black cat's ears perked up on the crown of her head, stemming the tide of hair.

With a mischievous grin, the blonde leaned over and pretended to look over the menu. "Y'know, " she suggested, "the tuna here is pretty good."

The ravenette barely glanced at her."That's racist and you know it, Yang," she frowned slightly. "Although," she trailed off, seeing the various seafood options the small kitchen offered.

The blonde smirked, running a hand over the crown of the other woman's head to gently touch her protruding cat's ears. "Told ya."

Blake turned and fully looked at her partner then, a mixed look of surprise and embarrassment on her face. "Yang, we're in public!" The blonde simply laughed.

The various conversations around the table continued for another couple of minutes while the four couples decided on what to order, before slowly subsiding by the time the waitress came back. By the time she had left with the long and somewhat eclectic list of orders, the table had a settled into a comfortable quiet.

Jaune coughed lightly, clearing his throat. "It's nice. All of us were in Vale today. It's good to see you guys again." His statement was met with nods and other modes of affirmation.

Across the table, the Weiss scoffed. "You say that like it's happenstance or something. I'll have you know that Ruby and I have been coordinating schedules for the last _six weeks_ in order to make sure we were all here."

Ruby put a hand on the ice queen's shoulder, and at the touch Weiss relaxed visibly. Ruby smiled to her assorted friends. "It _is_ nice that we're all able to be here, though. It's a special day." The red woman cleared her throat and stood up to her full height.

"Friends!" she said, gesturing with one hand to the table occupied by Ren, Nora, Pyrrha and Jaune. "Sisters!" she declared enthusiastically, pointing the pair of Blake and Yang.

With a crooked smile, she made a sweeping gesture to the last person at the table, the one sitting right beside her. Ruby laughed as she addressed, "Weiss." The aforementioned girl in white simply rolled her eyes, having seen this particular charade before. Ruby meanwhile adopted a tall, leaderly pose as she continued.

"Six years ago, on this day, all of us entered the prestigious Beacon Academy. We all came for different reasons, and from different places. Some of us were strangers, some we already knew well." Ruby leaned forward, placing her hands against the table. "But together, we made friendships that would last a life time."

"Here here!" Pyrrha agreed, raising her glass high. Jaune was quick to follow, and soon the entire table was involved in an impromptu toast.

"That sure was a crazy year," Jaune reminisced fondly. "I went from being the weakest wimp in the school to finishing in the semifinals of the Vytal Festival."

Yang squeezed Blake's shoulder enthusiastically. "Yeah, and Blakey here came out as a faunus!" Under her breath, she muttered, "And a few other things." Blake's crooked eyebrow only seemed to encourage her.

Blake, as usual, was more reserved. "Between Ironwood, Torchwick, and the White Fang, it certainly made for an eventful first year." She looked down at her feet, expression downcast.

The table went quiet for a moment, somberly reflecting on the experiences of the past. For as many good memories as those days held, there was an almost equal reaping of bad ones. Mountain Glen. The subway breach and the devastation that ensued as the Grimm poured into the city. Cinder Fall's surprise attack at the Vytal Festival. The final battle to save Vale. It was only by their training, and a substantial amount of luck, that they had won the day. But it had come at a cost.

The group remained morose for another few seconds before Ruby, cheerful as ever, roused them out of it. "Hey, it was all for the best, right? The White Fang's disbanded, the SDC's rolled back their old Faunus policies, and the Kingdoms are in a closer state of peace than like… ever." Her words were met with a chorus of nods. "And ever since then, we've all become super awesome huntsmen and huntresses. We get to help protect people from the Grimm." She smiled. "It's what we always wanted."

Nodding along, Yang replied with a thoughtful look, "Yeah, but it sure does make for a busy schedule. It was hard enough for all of us to get today off."

Jumping off from Yang's point, Weiss interjected, "We all have responsibilities now. We haven't been students in years. Hunting Grimm is a job, and a dangerous one. We have to be prepared, just in case something bad happens."

Ruby segued from Weiss's more depressing speech. "But," she said, waving her arms around slightly as if to dispel a cloud of dark thoughts, "that doesn't mean that we can't still have lives and friends and stuff. We're still people, and we're still going to be friends."

"Speaking of," Yang muttered slightly, eyeing Pyrrha and Jaune. Nora, of all people, was the one to catch the expression and jump on the statement.

"OH MY GOSH! Of course, how could I forget, silly me!" The boisterous ginger moved slightly from her seat, wrapping both the Champion and the Knight in a massive bear hug. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!"

The couple gasped for breath for a moment, and it took Ren to pry Nora off of them before they could respond. Pyrrha went first, tucking a strand of her crimson hair behind her ear in an uncharacteristically shy gesture. "Thanks, Nora. We're really happy about it too."

Weiss snorted, turning her nose up at them, though the entire table could tell she was attempting to suppress a smile. "We're all just surprised Jaune finally worked up the nerve to ask you."

Yang snickered at the heiress. "Ice queen, we all know you're just relieved that you finally have proof that vomit boy won't come mooning after you again." That brought a round of chuckles from the assembled friends, including a laugh from the ice queen herself.

Ruby sat back down and leaned across the table, looking both of them in the eyes in turn. "So, do you have a date set yet?" The blond and redhead turned and looked at each other, as if considering. Jaune laid his hand on Pyrrha's affectionately, and then turned to answer the question.

"We were thinking maybe six months from now. We're not entirely settled on a specific day yet." Everyone else nodded, except for Weiss, who kept muttering curses about "scheduling conflicts" and "date coordination".

Ruby's hand moved from Weiss's shoulder to her hand. With a smile, she turned to Jaune and Pyrrha and reassured them, "Don't worry. We'll be there."

Yang, from the other side of the table, piped up, "Yeah! Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Nora still had a cheshire grin plastered across her face, and was visibly trembling with suppressed excitement. "Oh my gosh Pyrrha, do you know what this means? We're gonna be WIFE buddies!" The dam burst, and Nora began skipping around the table, happily gibbering what teams RWBY and JNPR had long ago simply started referring to as "Nora-isms". Smiles and laughter filled that small room, reminiscence of days gone by and hopeful looks to the future ahead. It was a happy, contented scene. The sun went down over the Kingdom of Vale, and the light inside that little restaurant continued to burn for several hours, even after darkness swept over the city.

Yet other places were left without light. Past the streets and the harbor, on a distant barren crop of rock jutting from the sea, lay a prison. The prison was dark, as the lights out had just been called, and a faunus prisoner had just been returned to his cell. He sighed, cracking his neck before falling heavily onto his cot. It was barely padded, and not long enough by half for his tall frame. Still, it was familiar to him now.

He listened to the sounds of the prison as those locked inside began to sleep. He preferred listening to the sounds coming from his barred window. The rush of the waves, the whistle of the wind. It was soothing.

Or, at least, it would be, if he wasn't still full of so much rage.

For five years he had been locked away behind these iron bars. Five years of imprisonment, for daring to rise up against an unjust system and fight for equality. Five years since he had been betrayed, first by the one he thought had loved him, and next by the one he thought would bring him victory.

Five years had not been long enough to dull the fire of his anger.

Distantly, on the sound of the wind, he thought he heard something else. Something distant, different, floating on the breeze.

The sound of an engine.

He sat up, looking straining to hear. Yes, it sounded like an engine, like one of the Bullhead airships used to ferry people across Vale. And it was getting closer. He moved from his cot to look through the small, barred window. It was dark, but that wasn't a problem to a Faunus like him. He could definitely make out the outline of something approaching the island over the waves.

Then, faintly, he saw a flash of light emit from the incoming Bullhead. The light didn't simply flicker from its source, though. It continued, separate from the vehicle, streaking away from the airship. It moved incredibly quickly, streaking over the waves.

Coming right for him.

He ducked and rolled, trying to get as far away as possible from the window. It was a wise choice. Within seconds of his motion, the wall of his cell exploded. He covered his head from any shrapnel or debris, coughing from the sudden rush of smoke. His ears rang, and dizziness struck him. What was going on?

He stood, waving away the smoke from his face. Reaching out, he steadied himself against his cot and looked out of the now gaping hole in the wall of his cell. He stared out into the empty night air, the lights of the Bullhead coming even closer. It turned, pulling up sharply, and one its almost iconic side doors slid open.

Before he could even react, a pair of figures jumped from the open Bullhead into the ruins of his cell. He couldn't make out much of their forms, for they were wearing loose, flowing robes. He would have to hazard a guess, but he assumed they were female by their height and the widths of their shoulders. They both stood on either side of the hole in his wall, and he noticed that they were equal in height.

The one on his right wore a robe of midnight black, while the one on his left wore a robe of almost painfully blinding white. That wasn't their only distinguishing feature, however. Each of them wore a mask. Not stylized Grimm masks like he had once worn, no, these masks were blank, smooth and entirely featureless. They were polished to the degree that if there was more light in the room, he was sure he would have been able to see his reflection. Neither mask had any eye holes, and yet each of the women stared straight at him.

It was unsettling, to say the least.

Slowly, a small ramp extended from the side of the bullhead, connecting its open door to his destroyed cell. A third figure moved across it, with a slow and almost ethereal grace. She didn't seem to walk, more of a glide. She _flowed_ down the ramp like a controlled stream of water.

Her robe was a muted gray, the color of a cloud just before a storm. Her mask was unlike the others; it was divided in half with a diagonal slash extending from the left chin to the right brow. The right half was as dark and reflective as polished obsidian, and the left was as white as a perfect pearl. Like the others, it had no marks on its surface to denote a method of sight.

A chill entered his stomach as the three faceless women stared at him, _into_ him. They were framed in the light of the shattered moon, standing as still and silent as statues. Hesitating, trying to force the trembling from his voice, he asked, "Who are you?"

The trio stood silent for another moment before a voice echoed out from the black robed figure. Her voice was surprisingly young, especially for her height, sounding like that of a little girl. "Who we are does not matter. What matters is why we are here."

The deceptive tone of her voice sent a shiver down his spine. Still, he decided to press forward. "And why are you here?" His brow furrowed. "You blew a hole in my wall, for Dust's sake!"

The one robed in white answered next. Her voice was that of an ancient crone, once again entirely unrepresentative of what the figure seemed to look like under her robe. "Such a useful creature as you should not be kept in a cage."

He eyed the left figure with a hard glare, staring her down. She must have been human, a fellow faunus would never have said something like that. Stiffly, he responded, "I serve no one." That had been his mistake, the one that took him from the path of justice he had walked for all his life. Torchwick. Fall. They had used him and his movement as tools to their own ends. On the day he was captured, he swore it would never happen again.

A sudden clanging sound drew his gaze from the woman in white. Laying at the feet of the middle figure was a familiar shape. A sword, made in the style of a katana. Its black sheath was engraved with silver designs of roses and thorns. It was a unique weapon.

_His_ weapon.

He looked up into the blank, impassive black-and-white mask of the middle figure. This one stood significantly taller than the other two, almost as tall as his own prodigious height. He saw his own face reflected in its surface, his own dark, deep set, haunted eyes staring back at him.

Finally, she spoke to him, her voice a low monotone of indeterminable age and inflection. "Serve yourself, then. Serve your own desire for freedom. Serve your own thirst for vengeance. We are simply a means to an end, a gate through which to flee." The grey robed figure bent, picking up the sword and proffering it to him, hilt first.

"Take your fate by your own hand."

For the first time in five years, Adam Taurus smiled.

* * *

**And so it begins…**

**This is my first RWBY fanfic that I've posted, and comments are appreciated! **

**As you may have guessed, this prologue might not jive with what I've posted in the description. This chapter mostly exists as a "Where are they now?" for the main cast, and an introduction of our Villain(s). Yes, Adam is going to be a villain in this story, and I'm going to play with elements of his backstory through this fic. This story is a Post-Canon spinoff, and while the the characters we know and love will be appearing throughout this story, it will mostly be focused on original characters.**

**Also, as you've no doubt noticed, I've taken some liberties with the ending of the real series. This was written when Volume Three was still a ways off, in case you're reading this fic in the future. I've postulated that the whole arc of the show ends at their first year, with them defeating the White Fang near the end of the school year, Harry Potter style. That also should explain why it's been six years since they entered Beacon, and five years since Adam was put in prison.**

**And, as always and forever, this story is in memoriam of, and dedicated to, the late great Monty Oum. I never met you, and now I never will, but I can still honestly say that I will miss you. You are an inspiration to all of us.**


End file.
